Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Dan Schmitt, on the Team Chicago Yamaha RS loutaide), overall and second in class. Their other team, Team Xtreme II, won the Heavyweight Superstock class and finished 10th overall. "Greg Moore had to work last night, so he didn't make it," said Team Xtreme's Billy Etheridge. "So we had only three riders to ride two bikes. I rode the Superbike for 3 1/2 hours; I had to sit out 30 minutes. The Superbike finished second in class, and the other bike won their class. I love the rain." Vesrah Suzuki is now four for four. Mark Junge explained their racing strategy: "Tray, John and I are all the same speed in the rain, so we just had to stay upright. I was hoping that it would rain for the entire race. We went to an intermediate at the end and cooked it; we should have installed a DOT." Army of Darkness again won the Middleweight Superbike class and retained second place in the overall points. Velocity Crew Racing took second in class again. Team Bear, on their new Kawasaki 600RR, finished third in class. "The bike is really nice," Phil Young said. "I'm a Kawasaki fan, and 4&6 Racing told me to get the bike with the most available adjustments, and we have been getting more and more power out of it. We started on the Dunlop rains, and they worked for the entire four hours. Let's face it - it was just two old men and a really nice bike." eN na_ through tum four with Mark Crozier on the Army of Derlcness Suzuki 600. Steve Karson joined the hogs in the pen as he lost the Team Chicago R6 through the downhill corner and knocked the 2002 Middleweight Superstock champs out. SVPerformance.net continued to run second in the Lightweight Superbike class, with Deals Gap Racing in third. Vesrah Suzuki finally put a lap on Army during the third hour. Ridge Racing took their Kawasaki to third, with Team Xtreme in fourth. Tight Squeeze II kept that SV chugging and moved to fifth. Ricochet Racing battled with Team Velocity Crew for sixth. Spanky Racing continued on in eighth, as Team Xtreme II moved up to ninth. Bell's Suzuki II took their Honda 600RR to 10th, and third in the Middleweight Superstock class. Reuben Frankenfield was flying on the Team Velocity Racing Suzuki, making up time and trying to regain some points. At this point, Vesrah Suzuki had the fastest lap of the race, with a 1:41.098. And then the rain let up. A dry line started to develop, and the teams scrambled. Vesrah went to intermediate Pirellis. Some teams went to DOTs. Team Chicago finally returned to the action with Dunlop 207s. Mark Crozier, on the Army of Darkness Suzuki 600, picked up the pace and turned in the fastest lap of the race, a 1:36:464. At this point, 29 teams were still running; those that had crashed made the necessary repairs and re-joined the race. There were 33 crashes by 21 teams; 14 teams did not crash; 11 teams crashed once, eight teams crashed twice, and two teams crashed three times. It should be pointed out that the ambulance did not move during the entire race. Ridge Racing dropped their Kawasaki 10 minutes before the checkered flag flew and turned their victory in the Middleweight Superstock class over to Ricochet Racing. "It's really a good track in the rain," said Brian Suffridge of Ricochet. "There is' a lot of traction out Virginia Intemational Raceway Alton, Virginia Results: May 23, 2003 IRound 4 of 101 O/A: 1. Vesrah Suzuki (Suz); 2. Army of Darkness (Suz); 3. Team Xtreme (Suz); 4. Velocity Crew Racing (Suz); 5, Ricochet RZlclng (Suz); 6. Spanky Racing; 7. Ridge Racing (Kaw); 8. Bells Suzuki II (Hen); 9. Tight Squeeze II (Suz); 10. Team Xtreme II (Suz). H/W S/BK: 1. VesrZlh Suzuki; 2. Team Xtreme; 3. Spanky Racing. H/W S/STK: I. Team Xtreme 11: 2. Elijay Racing: 3. Team Tachyon. M/W S/BK: 1. Army of Darkness; 2. Velocity Crew Racing; 3. Team Bear. M/W S/STK: 1. Ricochet RlJcing; 2. Ridge Racing: 3. Bell's Suzuki II. L/W S/BK: 1. Tight Squeeze II: 2. SVPerformance.net; 3 DelJ;ls Gap Racing. WERA NATIONAL ENDURANCE SERIES OVERAU. POINTS STANDINGS (After 4 of 10 rouod.): 1. VesrlJ;h Suzuki (426.67); 2. Army of Darkness (384.01); 3. Team Xtreme (341.55): 4. Velocity Crew Racing (315.55): 5. Team Info Tech/Valter Molo (281.23); 6. Team Velocity Racing (277.93); 7. Team Xtreme II (259.55); 8. Ricochet Racing (249.1): 9. Neighbor of the Beast (245.54): 10. TIght Squeezen (240.62). there. The Pirelli tires did us a great job; they really stuck and lasted for four hours. Our goal was to keep the bike upright for the entire race." Tight Squeeze II continued their domination of the Lightweight Superbike class by finishing ninth overall, first in class. SVPerformance.net finished second, with Deals Gap Racing in third. "Our plan was to keep it on two wheels, keep it smooth," Brian Renn of Deals Gap said. "We ran rains the entire race and had to chill out a little bit at the end. Out of 33 crashes, we were not one of them." Team Xtreme again finished third Phil Young, on the Teem Beer Kew.seki aGORA, pieced third In the Middleweight Sup.INn c..... cue I ... n e _ so • JUNE 11, 2003 61